Short Story

It was a Saturday morning. The boy was sleeping peacefully. Slowly, the sunlight crept upon his blanket. Through a mess of dirty blond hair, his eyelids gave way to a pair of light blue eyes. He rubbed them and sat up on his bed. Squinting his eyes to block the sun he groped around and soon grasped a pair of black, thin-rimmed spectacles. With a stubborn insolence, he stood up and stomped down the stairs. No one would notice anyway, he thought. As he tottered along the toys obstructing his way, something didn’t feel right. The familiar sounds of his brothers shouting and playing were nowhere to be heard.

“Hello!” he shouted. Only the slight reverberation of his light voice came back to his ears. He rushed to the screen door and yanked it open. At that very minute, he saw the mailman.

“Mr. Jones!” the tween yelled.

“Hey, Jack. How’s it going?” the thin man heartily replied.

“Know where my folks are?” Jack uneasily inquired.

“Believe they went that way,” Mr. Jones said, thrusting a bony finger towards the small road.

Unaware of his physical appearance, Jack sprinted barefoot, following the street. He soon spotted a white VTA Bus. Feeling a sudden burst of adrenaline, he dashed behind it, frantically waving, but unfortunately, his idiotic gestures had offered little aid. Just before it disappeared out of sight, he caught the message blinking on the back of the bus. It read “Lake Tahoe, CA”. Dumbstruck and exhausted, Jack collapsed on his knees on the sidewalk. Giving up the race, the cloud of instinct blocking his judgment slowly disappeared. Jack pondered about the proper decision to make. Looking around at his surroundings through a film of burning tears, he realized that he was not the only one present. He sat down on a bench to catch his breath. Not after long, he stood up and approached a thick-bodied man with dark skin. Instead of heeding the potential danger he asked the man about the fastest route to Lake Tahoe.

Shoving Jack to one side, the man continued to walk mumbling “Sorry, kid.”

After innumerous disappointing replies from others, the boy found himself walking in a foreign neighborhood looking for people to consult. He saw a limousine driving. Because he was extremely desperate to find his parents or even anybody familiar, he shouted at it. The window rolled down, and Jack saw an aged man with sunglasses on.

“Hi! Can I help you?” the seemingly friendly man spoke.

Stunned at his first reply he stood still for a moment, but then quickly recovered.

Trying to make himself appear as mature as possible, Jack said, “Yes. Do you know the fastest route to Lake Tahoe?”

With a thin smile, the man replied, “Well, you’re in luck. I just happen to be making a stop at Tahoe. I can drop you off there.”

Forgetting his manners, Jack seized the opportunity. He swung the back car seat open and quickly sat down. When offered a bottle of water, he gratefully accepted and chugged half of it in one breath.

Luckily, the car ran into little traffic along the way.

At Tahoe, Jack was basically lost. After searching for a couple of minutes, he located a VTA bus station. He darted towards it and picked up the schedule. Oh no! The bus had already left! Jack jogged on the bus route with the energy he had left. After he ran around the corner, he saw the bus. With renewed vigor, he ran towards it. Soon, he saw it stop at a bus stop. Jack was fifty feet behind. The thirty-second wait would give him enough time to catch up. Just as the vehicle began to drive again, he was only five feet behind. Jack ran like never before. As the gap decreased, his fear drove him to do something dangerous. He pounded on the back of the bus. The bus stopped with a screech. As the bus door opened, he ran in without a word. He saw his dad, his mom, and his brothers. He ran up to his dad, and gave him a hug. The feeling of reassurance once again showered over him.